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When I was about 16 years old I was going through a 'love of Star Wars' revival and I remembered reading in an interview that the scenes in the corridors of the Tantive IV Rebel Blockade Runner ship belonging to Princess Leia Organa as seen in Episode IV, were filmed at Elstree Studios. Back then 'film studios' seemed like a strange other world to me (and they still are rather surreal sometimes ), but 'Elstree' was and still is hallowed ground and part of the Star Wars legend. I said legend not leg end. Anyway, I I so longed to own a part of that set that I phoned the studios and naively asked if any of the Star Wars props or bits of set had been left behind! At that time I knew little about movies, and that they in fact tear down and scrap the sets as soon as the scenes have been shot (shocking I know), so I didn't realise that over 10 years later there would be nothing left whatsoever. Apart from maybe the few bits in the Lucasfilm Archives...

Well, having 'set the scene' for you (!), I hope you can appreciate how I felt today when I walked into 'work' just before lunch and was told by Ewan's stand-in that the cockpit of the very same Tantive IV Rebel Blockade Runner was sitting over in F Stage.

You couldn't see me for dust after lunch

The soundstage was completely devoid of humanoids. I walked in through the large open sliding door, and it was just me and the Tantive IV. Moving around the plain outer wooden frame which belied the treasure within, I found some stairs... leading up to a familiar looking door.

Stepping through it, suddenly I was inside the Tantive IV.
I was inside my past. My childhood when I first watched the opening scenes of Star Wars, full of these very shapes and all in pure white. I had walked up some steps and into what were once naive teen dreams, now not so naive after all. Once I was scoffed at for thinking anything of this ship remained in British film studios, yet here I was some 1.5 decades later, in the driving seat - quite literally.

They had started dismantling the dashboard of this newly built set as the brief bit of filming featuring my friend Jeremy Bulloch had already been completed during the morning (which is why I had a morning off - no Anakin!). But it was still virtually complete, in fact it's how I imagined the 'left-overs' would have been when I was younger And on the rear wall... a familiar white rectangular protrusion with little circles and lines, just like the decor of the original ship. I was in Star Wars. Before, in all the scenes, and even back on Episode I playing Bravo 6 - Lt. Gavyn Sykes, although it was Star Wars in so many ways, and R2 was with us (I was paired with R2-C4), in other ways it was never going to be the true 'Star Wars' that we grew up with as it was set so far before then... Apart from this set.

I took my time in there I can tell you, making sure to take it all in and savour the moment. To a 'normal' person that will sound crazy but to someone who grew up with those films and bought all the toys they could, you will relate to how nostalgic that felt. I was there, at last, touching the walls of a spaceship I'd first seen as a young boy of 7 or 8. I couldn't be happier.

Then back to work (sigh). No wait, it's still good! The rest of my day was pretty simple stuff though - stand here, sit there, kill him, that sort of thing. First up I was actually OB1 in the scene where he has just killed General Grievous. Ewan came on to do his stuff, and gave a funny look to the dead General after saying, "How uncivilized", which afforded a laugh from George from behind his plasma screen.

Next up was a scene with Jimmy Smits as Bail Organa (who owns the Tantive IV at this point). He has just exited the ship and is walking along with Anakin, as C3PO and a to-be-added-digitally-later R2D2 following. This meant hanging around with Anthony Daniels as he got into the gold suit for a while, and a friend who was watching me on the webcam texting me to remark that I had stood in the same spot for 20 minutes! That's my job! (Or the webcam got stuck.) Anthony is very careful about where he walks, and meticulously inspects the carpet to make sure there are no trip hazards. A piece of new carpet has to be 'flown in' specially, and stapled down to correct a potentially catastrophic small rip! A fascinating conversation ensues in front of the plasmas with Tony and George:

George: We're gonna have you run your lines again here Tony
Tony: What? You mean I have to learn them again?!
George: Yeah, I didn't shoot them right before, I think I was flustered after you fell over
Tony: YOU were flustered? I watched that back on video recently -- it looked awful!

I hope to myself that it appears on a future DVD as I'd like to know a bit more about what they were talking about. I don't care what galaxy you're from, falling over in C3PO armour has got to hurt.

They go to rehearse this scene and as R2 isn't on set, Tony pulls along a 'Henry' vacuum cleaner by it's mains cord to represent R2 as he walks doing his lines! The similiarity is striking. Not. I've not laughed that much in ages - picture it in your mind if you can. Funnier still, Anthony was doing it very seriously, not as a joke! Hardly anyone else found it funny either for some reason. I start to doubt my own sanity. It is funny, right?

Over the few months in the run up to the release of the original trilogy on DVD we heard rumours that Lucas has reworked the end scene where Anakin appears in spirit form, and replaced the actor Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christensen. Up until today, 3 weeks before the DVD release, these were just rumours, but as I was standing in, Hayden came over to me and George, and began to ask him a question. At this point I was privy to a very interesting conversation (you can almost see me pretending not to listen on the webcam ) that went a little like this:

Hayden: So are there any truth in these rumours that I appear in Return of the Jedi?
George: Yes, you're in there. I decided that if Anakin were to appear in spirit form, it would be from the moment he 'died' which happens in Episode III, so he would look like a young boy not an old man.
Hayden: Right, so do you need to film me or...
George: No, it's okay, we got it already. Erm, I'm not sure where we found it from but we had some footage of you... we were gonna shoot it whilst we were on location with you but then we found something else and... well, it works.

I'm surprised my counterpart doesn't seem to realise that with the DVD release just 3 weeks away, the discs are already in production and there's no way there would be time to film him. Maybe he was just being polite. But I'm quite chuffed to have been there at the very moment Hayden found out he was now part of the original trilogy and unwittingly starring alongside Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill. Imagine just being told you've been given a part starring alongside that lot! I plan to ask him how that feels.

We finish the day with a scene where "Lord Vader" speaks to Darth Sidious' hologram. This is Anakin still in his 'pretty' form, but wearing the Jedi robe with the hood up. That's right, I am officially Vader's stand-in, not just Anakin. Gulp!

Ian is in full makeup again and looking frightful. (Nothing personal Ian.) Hayden walks off set and I take his place, but as we're both in hoods George doesn't realise, and he shouts over to my direction, "Anakin's hood needs to be a little further forward", as he sets up to shoot ... me! Well I'm quite happy to do the scene if he wants

But then Colin the 1st AD releases me as Hayden takes over, and yes they move his hood forward anyway.

It really is amazing how they film this stuff. It's all bluescreen, so any element can be picked up and moved around. It is commented on that Sidious is too high, but rather than put him on a smaller platform or box, George just says, "oh that's okay, we can move him around later". Movie-making has become partly like using the cut and paste feature on Photoshop. George really has a 'hands on' approach - helping work out the geometry of the positions from the set maps, coming and putting marks down at my feet so the position is locked down, moving me around, you name it.

I don't remember him being that involved on Episode I, but perhaps it was all still a bit new to him then after a 20 year break. He certainly seems to have the hang of it now though.


[Thank you for reading my insight into the making of a Star Wars movie. As always I greatly value your feedback and will do my best to answer any questions you may pose.

For images and another viewpoint on this day Hyperspace members can read Pablo Hildago's excellent set diary also]